Seminarian Matthew McClain: Following God’s Call, One Step At A Time

Growing up, Matthew McClain was blessed with two examples of religious life in his family. His aunt, Sister Barbara Austin, is a Benedictine Sister living at St. Joseph Monastery in Tulsa. His uncle, Fr. Stephen Austin, is a priest in the Diocese of Tulsa who served as pastor of St. John Before the Latin Gate from 1997 to 2004. With these role models to look up to from an early age, it is not surprising that Matthew had always thought of a possible call to the priesthood. And while life’s path may have taken some twists and turns before he found his way to seminary, he feels blessed by his ongoing discernment to a vocation in the Church.

In Matthew’s first years at Oklahoma State University, he joined several groups that were designed for young men discerning a call to the priesthood. By the time he graduated college, however, he had fallen away from the Church. For the next decade, while he worked in IT at ConocoPhillips, Matthew only attended Mass sporadically.

After a while, Matthew started feeling that something was missing.

“About four years ago or so, I was starting to kind of sense something missing in my life and through reflection, I realized I was missing God,” he says. “So I came back to Mass regularly and went to confession and was overwhelmed with a thirst for knowledge and wanting to learn about the faith. I started watching videos from Bishop Barron and things like that. What got me very deep into my spiritual life is when I watched a video of Fr. Mike Schmitz speaking on the Eucharist. That enkindled in me a love of the Eucharist, and I started going to daily Mass. I started feeling like God was calling me to more than just coming to church.”

Matthew spoke with Pastor Fr. John O’Neill about his experience, and Fr. John put him in touch with diocesan Vocations Director, Fr. Michael Pratt. For about a year, Matthew immersed himself in parish life and served with several ministries at St. John as he continued to discern. Once again, it was his love of the Eucharist that pointed the way.

“One of the ministries I was involved in that helped me realize I was called to this was taking Communion to the homebound,” Matthew says. “Bringing Jesus to people every week was something that stirred that desire in me that I wanted to do this. So I started the application process late last year, and then started my studies at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana this year.”

After adjusting to being back in the classroom after so many years, Matthew has happily settled into life as a seminarian. The prayer life fostered in the community has been a tremendous blessing. Matthew has also enjoyed reconnecting with his musical roots — he played clarinet in his high school marching band — by participating in music ministry at the seminary as a cantor and member of the Schola Cantorum group.

Another part of life at St. Meinrad that Matthew greatly appreciates is the sense of fraternity among the seminarians.

“The brotherhood aspect has been nice,” he says. “Right before Thanksgiving, my grandmother passed away, and it was nice to be able to go to my other diocese brothers and talk and pray with them. That was a great comfort, and it was nice to have that connection.”

Matthew is thankful for the prayers of all our parishioners and assures us that we are in his thoughts and prayers, as well. For any young man at St. John who feels he might be called to the priesthood, Matthew would recommend that he speak with Fr. John and Fr. Pratt to further the discernment process.

“Get in touch with Fr. Pratt, the Vocations Director, and just take every day one day at a time,” he says. “The process is not something that you have to immediately sign up for the rest of your life — see how God is leading you each step of the way.”

For his part, Matthew plans on continuing to do the same — following the path the Lord is setting out for him, one step at a time.

“St. Paul said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you’ (2 Corinthians 12:9),” he says. “This gives me a lot of peace in the process and ties in with taking one step at a time and just trusting in God.”

Seminarian Matthew McClain feels blessed by his ongoing discernment to a vocation in the Church.

Seminarian Matthew McClain meets his new niece, Lily, in December.

Seminarian Matthew McClain meets his new niece, Lily, in December.